A federal judge presiding over the criminal case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has ordered him not to have any contact with current or former employees of the exchange as part of his bail conditions.
In a February 1 ruling, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York said Bankman-Fried would be barred from communicating with current or former employees of FTX or Alameda Research "except in the presence of counsel" in order to remain free. . on bail during his trial. As part of his ruling, Kaplan added that SBF could not contact anyone with encrypted messaging apps like Signal, according to prosecutors. claimed in previous submissions that the former FTX CEO had used the app to communicate with FTX US General Counsel Ryne Miller.
โThe indisputable information available to the Court on the 'nature and seriousness of the danger [. . .] raised by [defendantโs continued] 'Freedom' under existing conditions has changed substantially since he was released, and there appears to be a material threat of inappropriate contact with potential witnesses,โ Kaplan said. "That risk, according to the Court, is clearly and convincingly sufficient to justify the imposition of additional conditions pending the full cross-application argument."
According to Kaplan, SBF was behind the decisions to automatically remove Slack and Signal communications between FTX and Alameda employees starting in 2021, telling former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison that any potential legal case would be harder to build without proper documentation. She also cited Signal's messages with Miller and other methods of contact with "other current and former FTX employees" in her ruling.
The judge has yet to decide whether SBF could be barred from accessing the FTX and Alameda funds as part of his bail conditions as well. The Justice Department argued in a January 30 filing that Bankman-Fried had contacted FTX CEO John Ray discuss ways to access company funds. Judge Kaplan said he will hear arguments on the matter at a hearing on February 7.
Related: FTX's sister company Alameda Research sues Voyager Digital for $446 million
Bankman-Fried's trial is scheduled to begin in October in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, where he faces eight criminal counts, including wire fraud. The FTX bankruptcy case is also currently underway in the District of Delaware, where debtors recently citations requested for information and documents of SBF's relatives.
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